Martone is standing trial for his alleged involvement in setting a fire that killed Kathy Hardy on March 7, 2006, in Branford. Co-defendant John Vailette was convicted on the arson murder charge in October.

The evidence in question Tuesday was from the testimony of Brie Lepore, Vailette’s girlfriend at the time of the fire.

The defense objected to Lepore’s anticipated testimony because it would suggest Martone was involved in a burglary for which he was never charged, defense attorney Jeremiah Donovan said.

“The question remains of who was driving the white van,” Chatigny said. “Evidence of other crimes committed by Mr. Vailette and Mr. Martone goes to establish the nature of their relationship.”

Previous trial testimony indicates two vehicles were seen speeding from Hardy’s house prior to when smoke was seen coming from the second story of the house: a black pickup truck and a white construction van.

Per the defense’s request, Chatigny instructed the jury that if they believed Lepore’s testimony they were only to use the information to ascertain the nature of Martone’s relationship with Vailette, not use it as evidence Martone may have had a bad character or was inclined to commit crimes at the time of the 2006 fire.

“They hung out every day,” Lepore said of Vailette and Martone. “To my knowledge, they were best friends.”

Lepore said she often saw them together and suspected they were regularly stealing items to pawn for drug money. She also said that if she ever couldn’t find Vailette, she could call Martone to find him. Lepore told the jury Vailette had moved in with her in an apartment in Guilford in 2005. She described a relationship in which she worked two jobs that helped pay for a car she bought for Vailette and supported his drug abuse habits. Lepore testified that sometimes she just gave him the money to buy drugs to avoid an argument that would have ensued if he stole it from her purse.

While Vailette was living with her, the couple returned home one night to find the apartment had been broken into. Martone and another man arrived at the apartment, but promptly left with Vailette when Lepore called the police to report the break-in. Lepore said the other man wiped his fingerprints off the door before leaving.

Days after the reported incident, Lepore said she discovered her watch in the center console of Martone’s car.

As in Vailette’s trial, Lepore also described an instance the day before the fire in which she drove Vailette to Hardy’s house and he went inside and took her answering machine, claiming it had evidence Hardy was attempting to set up his uncle.

A black answering machine was later identified as the one from Hardy’s house by Branford Police Detective Ryan Tobin, who investigated the scene of the fire in March 2006.

On cross-examination, Jeremiah Donovan questioned Lepore about why she did not tell Branford police in her initial interviews with them in March 2006 about Vailette taking the answering machine the day before the fire.

“I’m (wasn’t) going to tell them and put my life in danger,” Lepore said.

She told Assistant U.S. Attorney John Durham in response to a similar question, “Some lady just died. ... I didn’t want to be next.”

In trial proceedings last week, Alice Foskey, an acquaintance of Hardy, testified that when she called Hardy on the evening of March 6 — the night before the fatal fire — Hardy told her Vailette was at her house with his girlfriend. Lepore denied ever being at Hardy’s house on the evening of March 6 with Vailette and Hardy.

Lepore said she continued to date Vailette for several months after the fire and terminated the relationship sometime after his wife was released from prison. While Lepore had testified that Vailette and Martone were often together, she said that she had not seen Martone the week of the fire, or any time again after that.

The car Lepore purchased for Vailette was a 2001 F150 pickup. According to Tobin, that truck was searched in the days following the fire and several items of jewelry and a silver platter were discovered in it.

Later testimony from Hardy’s ex-husband, Jeff, and her father, Robert Barrett, showed those items belonged to Hardy at the time of her death.

Prior to Lepore’s testimony, the jury heard testimony from Karen Palmer, a forensic accountant for the FBI. She told the jury that a woman, Ursula Haesche, had opened two bank accounts in September 2004, totaling close to $50,000. Both accounts were empty and closed by October 2005.

Palmer’s research into the accounts showed about $45,000 from those accounts went to Kathy Hardy and Vailette’s uncle during the year the accounts were open.

The research showed that checks had been made out not only to Hardy and Vailette’s uncle, but also child support services and Hardy’s ex-husband.

The case against Martone is expected to continue Wednesday at 9 a.m. with testimony from Donald Armatino. The court will convene with attorneys outside the jury’s presence to instruct Armatino about his expected testimony.

The defense has previously filed motions on Armatino’s testimony and is concerned about a tendency he showed in the Vailette trial to blurt out information that does not answer questions posed by counsel.